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Friday, June 3, 2016

Studio Time: Thirty-Three

Pricing a promise

Normally he would have walked the easy half mile along the
beach from his house to Coop’s, but Slim was on his way downtown so he tossed
the briefcase in the car and drove the distance. They’d planned to go over the whole damned
Brew and Rayne and Jimmy misadventure after some conspiracy nuts and the media got
involved, and after Rayne stormed his office, plus Duff Tyson was mixed up in
there although that wasn’t his business and he hoped to keep it that way, and
then there was Gemma Wilson. They’d
planned to do it yesterday. They
couldn’t fit it in and Slim hadn’t considered it urgent.

So here he was on a Friday morning dragging a
briefcase full of contract paperwork up the stairs to Coop’s house.

Slim heard a guitar as he climbed up the last few steps but
before he had a chance to knock, Cooper threw open the door and stepped aside
to let him in. "Thanks for coming
to the house. With Beth away this week, I didn't want to leave Hugs alone and
she’ll be getting back from school in a couple of hours."

He thought that was a pretty lame excuse. Hugs could safely
stay at home by herself for an afternoon.
She’d spent yesterday evening at his house playing pool with Garrett and
Cullen, a last minute arrangement to give Coop some privacy to talk to Rayne,
and it had gotten kind of late and she’d asked to walk home by herself. Not that he’d let her – he sent Garrett along
on the ten minute walk – but she wasn’t scared.

It was just as well to go over the issue here instead of the
studio though, if there was an issue, and so far he didn’t see one. "It's no problem."

Slim walked into the living room while Coop retrieved a beer
from the kitchen. He set his briefcase on the table and took a look
around. The place was looking empty,
that whole wing where the twins stayed cleared out and left that way. He hadn’t heard Coop talk about moving into
someplace smaller but he couldn’t help but wonder if they planned to stay here
and rattle around just the two of them and Hugs.

"Sorry, I poured the last Guinness a few minutes ago.
Heineken okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine. You working on the new album?"
Slim glanced at the pile of arrangements on the table knowing that was not the
reason for the summons by Coop. Like
he’d already told Coop over the phone, they followed the letter of the contract
right down the line, got Gemma angry, unavoidable even if he wanted to avoid
it, but it was over and done with. He
was worried about Rayne chasing after Gemma and wanted Coop to try to pull her
back in line if he could, and Gemma’s renewed threat made him uneasy. There was nothing useful he could do about
it, and he believed she’d get over it when she signed someone else, and she
probably would. He thought they’d go
over what little they had to talk about and put it to bed.

After taking a liberal swig of Heineken, Slim set it down, lowered
his body into the chair, and rested his elbows on his knees waiting for Coop to
fill him in. "You didn't ask me here to talk about leaving Hugs alone
after school or how far you’ve gotten with the album. Spill. What's going
on?"

Coop sat to Slim's left, drew a deep breath, and then leaned
forward face set and eyes hard. Over the many years that he and Coop had been
friends, Slim learned every nuance in Coop's expression and body language.
Watching him now, Slim knew he wasn't going to like what he was going to hear.

"I want you to settle some money on Jimmy Breaux's
little sister. Make it a percentage of what the album might have earned if we'd
released it, a one-time payment. We still hold the rights to the masters
right?"

What the hell? "That's it? That's why you asked
me here? You could have mentioned that over the phone Coop. You didn't need me
to bring these damned contracts to ask me to send some poor girl a check. I
know there's more so talk to me."

"All right, there is more and before you go all
ape-shit on me, hear me out. I want you to settle some cash on Brew as well."

Slim couldn't believe it. The two men stared at each other,
neither willing break the connection. Coop had made some unusual requests in
the past and he'd carried them out despite some pretty serious reservations but
this was out of the question. Cooper had
been involved in writing that contract, he’d approved the way it would be
voided if Jimmy stepped out of line. It
had only been a couple of days since the man died, and dying hadn’t been in
anybody’s plan, but the terms of the contract had been applied as they
should. Cautious, hoping there was some
rationale he didn’t get yet, thinking maybe this was still something to do with
Jimmy’s sister, he kept his voice steady.

"Settle money on Brew.
You going to tell me why?” ­­ And, because the thought abruptly occurred
to him and he couldn’t avoid it no matter how crazy it was, Slim added, “You
including Gemma Wilson in that edict?”

Slim pushed out of his seat and walked over to the window. A
thin layer of clouds hung low on the water. Everything was silent except for
the constant whoosh of the waves hitting the beach and the occasional squawk of
seagulls probably fighting over a desperate crab. He was on the crab’s side at this point. He stood just out of reach of the billowing
curtains and folded his arms against his chest in an effort to avoid punching a
hole in something.

"Just do it? Are you fucking insane? No, I'm not
going to do that, no way in hell."

Coop rose and took a few steps toward him. Clearly, he
wasn't going to back down but neither was Slim. He’d already put himself out
there, taken a public position on this, painted the company and himself as the
bad guys in the media since the sympathy was for the dead artist. They were taking some flak for it but by the
end of the month nobody would remember Jimmy Breaux. They’d remember it if Slim Savage caved on a
contract because he felt sorry for somebody.

"That contract was about Gemma and you know it. The
band members were innocent bystanders. Hitman never would have signed them—hell
nobody would have with Jimmy's history. We cut them off at the knees because of
Gemma. They don't need to bear the full brunt of it. The sister especially
doesn't need to suffer. I don't care how you do it, you’ve got enough
experience to come up with something, but get it done."

Stung, Coop had never been condescending and the remark
about his experience came out of left field, Something had to be seriously wrong. "Again, no. We have no reason whatsoever
to pay. You want to ease the loss for the little sister, which I can agree
with. But there are a lot of innocents you aren't considering here Coop. The
fallout of this is going to spread in ways you aren't even taking into account."

"It's my company Slim, my label. Don't argue with me on
this."

What the actual fuck?
Sim moved dangerously close to Cooper and dropped his arms, balling his
fists. "Your company? Your label? I don't seem to recall you
buying my half out.”

“This is your guilt talking.
Like you’ve done before, you did something arrogant and stupid and now
you’re making a unilateral decision without so much as including your business
partner. This is not good business or goodwill. I worked my ass off protecting our
company and your reputation with that contract. After Jimmy diedI tore Gemma up when she came to the studio about the contract and now
you want me to take it back? Forget about your ego and what you want for a
minute here and think about my credibility."

He needed space. Slim could
recall only one time he'd laid a serious beating on Coop. That situation
involved another Wilson family member. Julia. Coop deserved it then and he
deserved one hell of a beating now if only to knock sense into him. Coop had a world class temper and he’d gotten
the rough end of it more than once but nothing like this. If he wasn’t on his way to work he’d grab
something a lot stronger than a beer.

Coop stepped to one side,
looked down that empty hallway, and started to pull back the attitude. “Look I’m sorry about the comment on the
company, I didn’t know you’d have a problem with any of this. The band caught a really lousy break, but
that’s not what this is about.” He
paused, looking tired and uneasy and worried, maybe showing his age some.

Cooper glanced away toward the
wall where he’d hung a photo of his family, hesitated, seemed to be considering
things and then came to pleading than Slim had ever seen. “Rainie…this is about Rainie. What I saw last night was bad Slim, much
worse than I knew. Jimmy died almost
literally on her doorstep, did you know that?
And he was holding onto her photo or so they’re saying, and it’s tearing
her up. Of course it is, she’s nineteen years old. She’s got reporters hounding her. She’s
bouncing around with no real place to stay and she’s pushing me away. She won’t make it if this continues and I
don’t know any other way to help her.”

Rayne, he should have guessed
it was poor Rainie behind Coop’s change of heart. She couldn’t take one step in any direction
without falling off a curb. “I know
she’s upset. She was yelling and screaming
at me about Jimmy. And Gemma. She’s been asking about Gemma, pushing hard.”

“Gemma was someone to blame,
that’s all. She's blaming herself now and fighting a bunch of wild crap about a fiancee and stolen money and Jimmy Breaux dropping dead as soon as she walked out on him, and for some reason she's behind that too. She knows how to handle the media, but I've got to help her deal with the damage to the band. I promised her I'd do it.”

Now that did make him feel bad. “That’s a promise you shouldn’t have
made. I understand how you feel
Coop but it’s a business decision both of us have
to make.” Slim paused, and once again
asked the question Coop had not answered.
“What’re you going to do about Gemma?
You including her in this deal?”

Cooper shook his head, looked up over Slim’s shoulder out at
the sky and the water and then back at him with a kind of brooding quiet. “I don't know. She’s the agent. You're nullifying the contract, damages her reputation, she might not take it but cutting her out would be worse. Include her.”

What a wonderful idea.
Offering her money with one hand and stomping all over her with the other, publicly humiliated like that…. she was going to tear him apart.

Walking across the room, Slim regarded the family photo taken when Hugs
was still a little girl. In so many ways she still was. She was an innocent who
worshiped and was devoted to her father. Unlike the other kids, her life
didn’t really extend much beyond the house and the safety of the
peninsula. She wasn’t prepared for any
of this.

Not for the first time Slim wondered if the fame and
notoriety was worth the cost. Look at the fractures in the Stanfield family
portrait, the cause and effect of Cooper's life in the public eye. Round and round it went and here he was again,
plaster and paint bucket in hand, trying to help paste together what he
could. At least he didn’t have to worry about his own
family – he’d kept them away from all that bullshit.

He pulled in a deep breath and figured he’d try. “I get where you’re coming from but it’s too
late. Everything
is a mess from beginning to end and the good times just keep on coming.Think about
your family Coop. You really want to put them through another scandal? You
really think this is going to roll off them the way it rolls off you? Think about Hugs. You wanted Hugs out of the house last night so
she wouldn't hear anything you and Rayne talked about. How do you think you’re
going to protect her if Gemma drops that nuclear bomb? We’re talking rape, not a hookup with Stevie Holloway."

Cooper paced across the room. His expression cold and angry he stopped,
turned hard on the heel of his heavy boot and demanded, “So what are you
advising me to do? Not pay her? That'll guarantee she'll blow up! Give her the masters to shop around if she won't take a check! I have to try something - I can't sit here and wait for her to attack.”

Completely exasperated, Slim slammed the column with the flat of his hand and shouted at him. “Are you listening to anything I've said?

"I settled money on Gemma Wilson to shut her
up when we extended that fucking contract the first time. You can't keep her quiet and
you can't get rid of her no matter what you do, so why do anything at all?”

Coop folded his arms across his chest and looked at him, not
moving, not arguing, not agreeing with any of it. Nothing. Like always, he'd do what he wanted to do, and what he wanted to do was try, again, to buy off a woman who wanted something other than money.

Slim grabbed his briefcase and headed for the door. “I'll see what I can do. I ought to let you
deal with it by yourself but there’s Hugs standing there. The rest of your family may let you off
again, but you’re going to devastate Hugs.
That’s the only reason I’m doing this.”

"And you," he added, "are coming with me when we meet with Gemma Wilson."

He stormed out and thundered down the steps without a single
glance over his shoulder leaving Coop in his wake. For the first time in
their long relationship, Slim felt an ominous crack in their friendship. Maybe it was the same thing that happened to
his family. Maybe you couldn’t get close
to the man without sooner or later finding the ground opening up under your feet.

12 comments:

Yeesh. That was intense. From a business standpoint, yeah, maybe Cooper shouldn't have made a personal promise... but, from a life-in-general standpoint, business can't be the be all end all for anyone who wants to be more than a drone. Cooper fucked up, and it was only a matter of time before he had to clean up the mess, and--even if it's not necessarily for all the right reasons--some part of him clearly does want to. I think there's a way that this matter can be settled--not a way that will make everyone as happy as they'd want to be, obviously, but I think Slim and Cooper and Gemma could potentially sit down and hammer something out under the table that would allow everyone to walk away with some fair share if they wanted to.

That's a big 'if', though, as this contract never really was about Brew.

Cooper left Gemma thinking he would just minimize the encounter if an outright lie didn't work, take his medicine and go on with his life, never considering how frustrated and angry Gemma would be. It backfired as did her attempts to do business with him using her resemblance to and connection with his first wife. They both miscalculated.

He does regret it but mainly because it continues to cause problems, and now Jimmy's dead, and his daughter's more involved than ever, and he can't fix it. His fixer, his best friend, is caught in the middle. Slim is tired of it and frustrated with Cooper's failure or refusal to see why it happened in the first place and to honestly face the widening consequences, including what it's doing to Slim. The business is no longer the most important issue. Can they bring Gemma to the table and work something out? She's ambitious. She wanted to be taken seriously. Money is not what she wanted. She would have demanded money when she sat down in that room and told the two of them her terms, but she didn't. She had a useful client in her pocket, Jimmy Breaux and his band Brew, so she pulled it out and told them what they should have already known, that this was her price.

Slim should not have voided the contract when Jimmy died. He could have let it go. He didn't, not for the sake of business, but in order to slam Gemma. Like everything else, it's backfiring. Talk about Cooper not seeing what he did, Slim doesn't see his part in it either.

It's going to be very hard to buy her off now.

I love those two guys but they've made themselves one fine mess.

Thank you so much. I always look forward to seeing what you think - both of us do!

Thanks Van for the comment. I'm glad this chapter came off with some intensity. That was the goal so if it worked, then yay! Attempting to deal with Gemma in the first place was the biggest mistake from a business standpoint. The issue would have long been settled if they'd stood their ground with her. I think it will be interesting to see what Gemma ultimately does.

Thank you again for supporting us after all this time. It is much appreciated.

Well this may not end well.... They have one fine mess on their hands. I know Coop wants to keep his promise to Rayne but it just feels like he keeps trying to cover bullet holes with bandaids. Slim is right that Hugs would be devastated to know the truth, but covering it up hasn't worked well so far. I can't wait to see what Gemma says when they come knocking this time. I'm sure she has a good card up her sleeve.

Cooper thought he could control it, that it would be a one time payoff, he could protect his family, and if Jimmy hadn't died it might have worked. Maybe. Gemma probably will have a killer card up her sleeve. There's a third party involved though, one she didn't consider when this started, and that's Rayne.

Cooper made a mistake in allowing his arrogance and anger to overrule his common sense when he went to Gemma's house that night. It is a decision he deeply regrets but can't take back. However, the real villain here is Gemma. I don't know if I ever explained the relationship she had with her cousin (and Coop's ex) Julia but suffice it to say Gemma was jealous of Julia. So showing up at Hitman was a deliberate move on her part. It was always her intention to insinuate herself into Cooper's life and use the connection in whatever way would most benefit her. So while Coop screwed up, Gemma pressed her advantage.

I think it is safe to say what happens in the coming chapters will tell the tale of how things turn out for all concerned.

Thank you so much for sticking with us muzegoddess. Your comments are always appreciated.

Oh wow, that was all a bit intense. I thought Coop was going to get up punch him one. lol Gemma sounds like a nasty piece of work. I really hope she doesn't do anything to ruin Coop's reputation or family. Looks like there could be some tough times ahead for Coop, I hope he is prepared!

Or more likely Slim punch Coop, which he's done before. Cooper's highly motivated since he's protecting his family so he's not going to back down although Slim could knock him through a wall. Gemma feels Coop didn't give her a fair chance although her reasons for being there in the first place weren't what she presented them to be. She's mad. He's mad. Slim's mad and frustrated with both of them. I don't think anybody's really prepared! Thanks so much for staying with us!

This chapter is very aptly titled. I can't help but feel sorry for all parties involved, especially all innocent bystanders. Even though Coop wants to be a good guy and do the right thing - band-aids don't fix anything. And Slim...I have no words.The whole thing is a lose-lose-lose situation. It will probably blow up in all of their faces.Except Gemma's.

I was so happy to see a comment from you! Cooper's trying to make up for a mistake he never expected to harm his family like this. He is really trying but kind of floundering. And the friend he's always been able to absolutely count on for help is resisting now.